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President Obama took off today on his first trip as President to Kenya and Ethiopia.
The Los Angeles Times reports the U.S. has stepped up use of drone strikes in neighboring Somalia ahead of Obama’s trip. For more on U.S. drones strikes and covert operations in Somalia, KBOO’s Jenka Soderberg spoke with Abayomi Azikiwe from the Pan African News wire

The Last Thursday shooting on NE 20th and Alberta St. has led to a police response that may do more harm than good.
After people were seen taking selfies near the crime scene, two black men were arrested while helping one of the three shooting victims.
In the meantime, the Portland Police Bureau is adding six new officers to its Gang Enforcement team. The Chief of Police says it will help curb the rise in gun violence.
Glenn Waco is a local rapper and one of the two people who was arrested. He spoke with KBOO's Alan Montecillo about police in Portland and the impact of gentrification.
Waco is scheduled to appear in court on June 11. The rationale for his arrest is still unclear.

An active nuclear power plant in Washington state is being refueled.
Washington’s Columbia Generating Station, or C.G.S will be refueled using raw radioactive material.
The Environmental Protection Agency says that radiation levels in the area will increase significantly, but that the equipment used to measure that radiation will be completely shut down during the refueling process.
KBOO’s Nathan Behensky spoke with Miriam German of No Nukes Northwest about the plant’s current problems and the future of nuclear power in Oregon and Washington.

The city of Denton, Texas passed a ban against hydraulic fracturing (fracking) last November. Despite being overspent 10 to 1 in campaign funding, the anti-fracking initiative passed by a wide margin of 18%, which included a majority of both Democratic and Republican voters.

However, the Texas state legislature effectively overturned the ban by passing House Bill 40. The law also limits the ability of all Texas municipalities from regulating fracking within their city limits.

Fracking has started back up in Denton. The Denton City Council meets Tuesday, June 2 to decide whether to repeal the ban.

To find out more, KBOO's Ken Jones spoke with Cathy McMullen, president of the Denton Drilling Awareness Group.

With Oregon’s diesel emissions being the sixth highest in the nation, attempts to pass laws that might put the State’s limits on par with California’s have stalled in the legislature.
Because State law limits diesel emissions very little, activists are concerned that Oregon has become a dumping ground for vehicles and engines that would be illegal elsewhere.
KBOO’s Nathan Behensky spoke with Mary Peveto of Neighbors for Clean Air about the campaign.

A rally in front of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, Arizona, has been scheduled for tomorrow night at 6:15, during Friday prayers. the organizers say it is in response to the attack on a "draw the prophet" event in Garland, Texas earlier this month, in which two gunmen with ties to the ICCP were killed by police before entering the building. Organizers are using a Facebook page to gather attendees for the rally, which with include its own "draw the prophet" contest. More than 300 people have said they will attend, including a number of biker gangs. The organizers encourage people to "exercise there second amendment right…in case our first amendment comes under the much expected attack" (sic). KBOO's Sam Bouman spoke to Liban Yousuf, the Civil Rights Director of the Arizona branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, about the reaction of the local Islamic community, collaboration with law enforcement, and the background of anti-Islamic bigotry in Arizona.

Electroshock survivor and activist Deborah Schwartzkopff was arrested for Criminal Trespass during a protest on Saturday against the controversial practice at the Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center .
Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is still widely practiced in the United States, despite public perception that it is largely a thing of the past.
A campaign to ban the procedure in the 1970’s and 80’s had some visibility and achieved at least one outright ban in Berkeley, California in 1982, but since then it has mostly faded from public awareness.
Schwartzkopff underwent numerous series of shock treatments for depression and says she has lasting neurocognitive damage as a result.
She and two other electroshock survivors organized an international day of action on Saturday in fifteen U.S. cities, four in Canada and two others in Argentina and Australia.
During Saturday’s protest at the Kaiser facility in Clackamas, where Schwartzkopff underwent a number of her shock treatments, a dozen protestors stood at the Kaiser entrance on Sunnyside Drive carrying signs and banners.
One of the protestors, Steve McRae with Portland group Rethinking Psychiatry, had this to say:

After an hour and a half, at around 12:30, Schwartzkopff and three other protestors walked in toward the main entrance, but were stopped about 100 feet short by security guards.
Schwartzkopff sat down on the sidewalk, with a sign saying “Kaiser stop Electroshock” and waited for Clackamas Sheriff’s deputies to come arrest her.
She was taken to the Sheriff’s office in Clackamas, cited for Criminal Trespass and released. Her court date is June 15th.
KBOO reporter Paul Roland spoke with Schwartzkopff this afternoon by phone.

Schwartzkopff runs an advocacy website http://ectjustice.com/.
She will be speaking on the issue this Wednesday along with fellow electroshock survivor Jason Kalendak at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland. The address is 49 SW Porter and the event begins at 6:45 p.m.
She will also be on this Wednesday’s Talk Radio along with Rethinking Psychiatry members Marcia Meyers and Steve McRea.
Rethinking Psychiatry is at http://www.rethinkingpsychiatry.org/

KBOO news volunteer interviews Abigail Hall, a nurse at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center and member of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals about their new staffing agreement at the hospital that includes landmark nurse to patient staffing ratios.